


Same & Different

by iniquiticity



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Consecution, Ficlet, Future AU, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2020-03-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:08:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23010733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iniquiticity/pseuds/iniquiticity
Summary: “Uh, Headmaster,” said Orinne, “There’s um, the biggest orc I’ve ever seen looking for you. He says his name is Essek.”
Comments: 3
Kudos: 140





	Same & Different

**Author's Note:**

> Essek discord inspired me this "Consecuted-Reborn Orc Essek finds 60s Nein." snippet, and I liked it enough to post it here.
> 
> as always, i can be reached on tumblr at [iniquiticity](http://iniquiticity.tumblr.com), or on twitter at [@iniquiticity](https://twitter.com/iniquiticity)

Caleb looked up when there was a knock, and gestured the door open with a wave. His neck ached, from the movement. These old bones, he thought, shaking his head. “Yes?”

“Uh, Headmaster,” said Orinne, one of his bright, young students, “There’s um, the biggest orc I’ve ever seen looking for you. He says his name is Essek.”

His pen fell from stiff fingers. Orinne stared at him, concerned. A pause, and Caleb swallowed. A long time ago it had been something he had been... desperate for. Had prayed might work, for all that he thought gods were worthless. Now it seemed unbelievable. All that vengeance and those adventures and now he had settled down and had students and... _now_... 

“Could you direct him to the sitting room, please, and tell him I will be with him very shortly?”

“Yes, Headmaster,” Orinne said, and they turned, disappearing. Caleb stared at the note he was writing, addressed to the Brennatos of Nicodramas, and left it mid-word.

In his waiting room truly _was_ the largest orc he’d ever seen, though it had been a while. Eight feel tall, maybe more, maybe less. The broad, dark shoulders, with strange half-finished scarification. Enormous tusks curling from his mouth, with dark hair braided down his back. The face split into a smile that Caleb was sure was not intended to be nightmarish in the way that it was.

His fingers flickered with familiar, remembered spells, half completed. He had not touched that violence in so long, but... “Come into my office,” he said, and the orc stood, making the school seem small. He sat in his chair and the orc sat in one of the chairs, almost too large for it.

“I was worried it would be harder to find you,” the orc said, “Hello again, Caleb.”

“Tell me more about who you are,” he said, mouth pressed into a line, “If this is a joke… it is unkind.”

“Such as it is, being consecuted,” the orc said, and Caleb’s face softened, and his brain went oh gods, thank you, maybe it was true, maybe their desperate hope was real and while his brain stopped the orc was still talking, “You don’t decide your body, but you keep the self. When we met in Rosohna. Doing magic together. When I left that life to travel with you, and... all the things I fled, in a way. When we killed that enormous scorpion in Marquet. And the last thing I remember. Rexxentrumm, and you were weeping and reaching for me and.... nothing.”

Caleb felt he might faint. He stood with effort from the chair, making sure his legs would hold him, and came around the desk. “Old friend,” he said, softly. “You did not die in vain. They….. they’re all gone, now. Then.” A step, and another, and then this broad, powerful body was embracing him, and how could it have be familiar, and it was?

“Strange hands, for magic,” Essek said, pulling away to look at the massive palms, the sharp fingernails, black, well-trimmed, “But they’ll do. If you’ll have them teaching. I wonder where everyone else is. If they're places I can... go. Soon. Or will I have to learn to disguise myself, first.”

“Some I think. Beauregard is in Zadash and Jester, Veth and Fjord are in Nicodramas and Cadeceus is the Blooming Grove and... it is always a mystery, where Yasha is. I was just writing to Veth - she is supposed to come here soon, and she will be overjoyed to see you." A beat. He could imagine her halfling eyes, narrowed. "You will need to convince her.” 

The smile was less nightmarish. The smile was from a dark-skinned face he had not for a single instant forgotten. “I will be overjoyed to recount absolutely everything.”


End file.
